MADRID, 11 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz wants to continue making history this Wednesday at Wimbledon, the third ‘Grand Slam’ of the season and the only one on grass, with a victory in the quarterfinals against the Danish Holger Rune that allows him to reach his third semifinals of a ‘grand’.
On the second turn on center court, again the scene of one of his epic battles, the Murcian will try to take another step in the British tournament, where on Monday he broke his ceiling by coming back in the round of 16 against the Italian Matteo Berrettini ( 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3), who only managed to break his rival’s serve once.
At just 20 years old, Alcaraz became the first youngest seed to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals, a new display of character and ambition from a player who still wants more. It did not affect him at all that the Serbian Novak Djokovic virtually displaced him from number one with his previous victory against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz; he had to win and the man from El Palmar did it without succumbing to the pressure.
The accounts are now very clear: whoever goes further in the London event will be number one in the world after the tournament. In addition, they would not come across each other until a hypothetical final, with the Russian Daniil Medvedev or the surprising American Christopher Eubanks -the executioner of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals- as possible opponents in the ‘semis’.
Alcaraz, who has accumulated nine consecutive victories on grass and who only a few weeks ago won his first ATP title on that surface at Queen’s, does not seem willing to put the brake on. “I’m hungry for more. Last year I lost in the fourth round and I really wanted to play the quarterfinals here. I came this year with that goal. Now I’m looking for more. My dream is to play a final here and win this title one day “, he confessed.
This Wednesday the sixth favorite of the British tournament awaits him, the Danish Holger Rune, who defeated the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4), 6-3) in the round of 16. Both tennis players have met twice, both 20 years old, with a victory for each one; Alcaraz prevailed at the 2021 Next Gen ATP Finals (4-3(6), 4-2, 4-0), while Rune took the quarterfinal match of the Masters 1,000 in Paris last year due to withdrawal due to injury from Murcia (6-3, 6-6).
“Coming up against each other in the quarterfinals is something great for tennis. We grew up together, we went through all the categories, we played big tournaments. Meeting in a ‘Grand Slam’ is something great. I’m going to enjoy it,” said Alcaraz. The winner of the two will become the youngest Wimbledon semifinalist since Djokovic in 2007.